Dimba Bloghttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com
Kenyan Arsenal Fan, Ozil Fanatic and Verratti's my idolThu, 24 May 2018 19:18:03 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngDimba Bloghttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com
Four Secondshttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/four-seconds/
https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/four-seconds/#respondThu, 19 Jan 2017 17:07:28 +0000http://dimbablog.wordpress.com/?p=175Continue reading "Four Seconds"]]>Yesterday as I was travelling back to Nairobi, just before we got to Gilgil, a fuel tanker collided with another vehicle which in turn shifted lanes and in the process hit a guy on a nduthi head-on. He died on the spot. In less than four seconds he had “crossed” over from life to death. His wife will be called to hospital. She’ll leave work and rush to a hospital whose doctors are on strike. They’ll tell her he is no more.

She’ll weep because she’s just lost the love of his life. She’ll weep because their bed, even if it was a 4 by 6, will now be bigger. She’ll weep because she’ll not know how to break the news to their children. Often we are told we need to prepare for everything. How does one prepare for the death of a loved one? How does one prepare to break such news to their children? She’ll weep because her children, who probably have a penchant for running into daddy’s arms after he gets home from work, will no longer do so. Feeling daddy’s cold jacket yet warm hug will have to be more reduced to a mere memory, etched at the back of their… Their two year old will most definitely not get why the rest are crying; the conundrum of life’s innocence failure to perceive death.

They will erect a tent outside their house and begin funeral arrangements. Friends and relatives will stream in offering their condolences most of which will lighten the burden but not heal them completely. They’ll organise a harambee and in a week or so, burry dad. They’ll get back home and begin learning to adjust to living without daddy. His wife will ponder on whether or not to delete his number on her phone. “Let me keep it until I fully heal,” she’ll say. She’ll then realise that it’s pointless since she had already crammed it; a realisation which will cause her to inevitably tear up. She’ll however cut out the section of the obituaries and hope to live long enough to explain it to her two year old.

Let’s not think about how they’ll put food on the table henceforth. Let’s not talk about the children being asked by their English teacher to write a composition about ‘My Father’. Let’s not talk about them having to write N/A in Father’s name field in countless forms they’ll fill for the better part of their lives. Let’s stop it at where they’ll be asked to bring a copy of their dad’s death certificate to prove that he died.

A whole family, maybe even a generation, affected. And it only took four seconds.

Driving is about making decisions within a short period of time, seconds to be more precise. The decision making process is significantly reduced to elemental time (read milliseconds) when we drive faster. Take care.

The National Executive Council of AFC Leopards met on Tuesday this week and among other things that show us the ugly side of the club is that they are now broke. We have talked a lot about the running of AFC Leopards and almost every other club. We need not waste more ink, or in this case, keystrokes on the matter, so let them sort themselves out. As Mike clearly pointed out, you know something is wrong when you have signed 18 players then sack them before their contracts end. More grave is the fact that they are now on their third coach. The panelists suggested that FKF should crack the whip on club who don’t subscribe to club licensing rules. But my question is, what moral authority does FKF have to do this if they haven’t complied with the Sports Act? Let’s just leave it at that.

Sundowns vs Zesco 2nd Leg

Zesco beat Sundowns 2-1 in the first leg of the semi-final of the CAF Champions League. They face each other in the second leg this Saturday. Of most concern for Sundowns and their supporters is the fact that they have been playing too many games and their federation isn’t concerned with helping them. The teams form going into this match favor Zesco, as they are unbeaten in the last 12 matches. Owing largely to Pitso’s squad rotation, Sundowns have been shy on goal, scoring 2 in the last 4 matches. Zesco’s problem however hasn’t been in scoring goals but in conceding too many. They have conceded in literally all games since the group stage even in those where they were leading comfortably as was the case against Al-Ahly both home and away. It’s a semi-final one can’t afford to miss.

Starlets 2nd in CECAFA

Harambee Starlets lost to Tanzania in the CECAFA women’s final. The panelists all blamed mental strength, attitude and overconfidence for that loss. Everyone agreed that their toughest opponent to the final was Ethiopia and after they beat them 3-2, they thought they already had one hand on the trophy. Among other things, the panelists were against the printing of t-shirts inscribed the word “champions”, the luncheon the ladies were treated to on arrival and the road show. I see no problem in appreciating our team who finished second in that manner. Mike however pointed out that it was wrong for FKF president Nick Mwendwa to say that the team was nothing before they took office and rightly so because Nick’s team has only improved the logistics of the starlets. Everything else including the staff remains unchanged.

The panelists proposed that the team remain in camp till November and play more friendlies against Kenyan teams. Starlets are in Group A with Nigeria Ghana and Mali in the AFCON and will face Morocco and Cameroon in friendlies in preparation for the tournament.

ION

It was great to see Claudia and David ‘Calabar’ Owino on Soccer Africa last night. Think age cheating is bad in Kenya, how about a 23-year old Nigerian in Victor Emenayo who has a 14-year old son. The guy looks 50.

Hosted by Chiko Lawi, the show airs every Monday night between 8 and 9pm on Super Sport and focuses on matches played in the Sportpesa sponsored Kenya Premier League over the weekend. The regular panelists are Jacob Ghost Mulee who needs no introduction and Gilbert Selebwa, former AFC leopards and Congo United coach and the current Kakamega Homeboys U-20 coach. The third is normally Musa Otieno, current assistant coach of the national team, an invited guest or a coach in the KPL.

Monday Football

Hosted by the trio of Mike Okinyi, Bernard Ndong’ and Wahiga Mwaura, the show airs every Monday on Citizen T.V. from 1.30pm to around 2:30 pm. Involves all matters football from international level to local grass-root football. They host local football clubs in studio and at times even go to their stadia, example when they became the first show in the country to use a drone in airing a live show at Oserian FC. They’ve even been to my back yard at Camp Toyoyo grounds when they interviewed players and staff of Jericho All Stars. It is, in my opinion the best football show in the country.

photo courtesy of palosfc.com

Mchakamchaka

Hosted by Ali Hassan Kauleni, this show offers you insightful thoughts on matters Kenyan football in Swahili. It airs on Tuesday night.

Simba Super Soccer

If you want to know the happenings of Kenyan football and their footballers off the pitch then this is definitely the show for you. Also hosted by Chiko Lawi, the show airs every Thursday from 8-9pm. Regular panelists include Mike Okinyi and Arnold Kanyang’onda with Kwalimwa and alternating. It’s without a doubt the most informative football show in the country. #SSKPL

Monday Night Football

The show airs every Monday night and analyses all the matches played over the weekend in the English Premier League.

photo courtesy of dstv

Soccer Africa

This is the Simba Super Soccer of African football. Hosted by Sizwe Mabena, with Jeff Katala, TK and Idah Peterson, one couldn’t ask for more experienced and qualified panelists. They share plenty of jokes too especially Jeff and the pastor. It covers the PSL, CAF Champions League and any other major football news in the continent sharing invaluable opinion on the trending topics. This show has definitely introduced me to African football.

photo courtesy of palosfc.com

Click!!! Click!!! Bang!!!

]]>https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/must-watch-football-shows/feed/0dimbablogmonday-footballmaxresdefaultcm4b1fgwiaam8oj-jpg-largeJeri Lost to Kayole. What went wrong?https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/jeri-lost-to-kayole-what-went-wrong/
https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/jeri-lost-to-kayole-what-went-wrong/#respondFri, 09 Sep 2016 16:55:59 +0000http://dimbablog.wordpress.com/?p=116Continue reading "Jeri Lost to Kayole. What went wrong?"]]>On Sunday, Jericho All Stars took to the field against Kayole Asubuhi in the overly dilapidated City Stadium grounds in what was the highlight of the successfully publicized Super 8’s Super Sunday. Owing to the blackout, KPLC made it easy for us to choose between our loyalty to the national Harambee Stars, who were playing Zambia, and our home-based team, All Stars. There were simply no excuses to miss the match.

Led by the legend Spark mwenyewe, Jeri needed a win to stand a chance to secure the coveted title. The Mashemeji derby and KSSSA football finals, it was arguably the biggest game Kenya has seen in a while courtesy of operation Fagia Base. Yes the games in Extreme Sports attract large crowds enviable by Nick and all KPL teams but this was definitely the climax of it all.

As you already know by now, Jeri lost the game by a solitary goal scored in the first half. Both teams had chances but couldn’t take them notably Pompee who would have at least bagged two goals. Apart from good performances from Makbul and Messi, there weren’t anything exciting about the game. But could Jeri have done better? What were the reasons behind their dismal performance?

Tola Starts

As soon as the teams took to the pitch, everyone who’s followed Jeri this season was shocked to see Tola in the starting line-up. Last I saw him play a league game was against Shauri in the first leg and if my memory serves me well he played as a six. I’ve never seen him play for Jeri again at least not in the league. He features mostly in friendlies. I don’t necessarily doubt his quality (for this level) but I think it was unfair to play him in such a hugely significant game especially with other options available. Apart from a few interceptions he had a really bad day. (It can only be compared to Calum Chambers’ performances against Liverpool last season at the Emirates only that he, Chambers, improved in the second half.) So much that Okong’o decided to sub him; Ninety replacing him and Oreso moving over to right back. The game and mostly the substitution has definitely taken Tola’s confidence to a new low.

Poor team selection

Save from obvious questions over Tola starting one would wonder why he decided to play O’Neal. Yes he scored in the previous games against Masa and Kiambiu Youth but his performances have been below par. I think Ndiwa would have been a better more convincing option. O’Neal is not by any means a natural winger. After his short stint at KCB, he returned to the team to find Pompee as the undisputed number one striker so he has since been reverted to a winger. While I have no problem with that, I just don’t think that he’s a good winger. For obvious reasons, I tend to favor wingers who aren’t afraid of taking on defenders. O’Neal, with all due respect doesn’t do this and this weakness was greatly exposed. It is important that coaches play to the strengths of a player and not impose a specific style of play that doesn’t suit a player.

In defence, seeing that Omosh was ineligible to play in this game owing to a suspension after picking up red card, why Okong’o didn’t choose the young Chale at right back with Eddy and Ninety playing and CB. In my view Chale has had a great deal of mentorship when playing alongside Ninety. BTW what happened to Koki?

Subs that couldn’t make a difference

Brayo who came in for O’Neal tried by all means to make a difference by trying to take on his defender but all the criticism will be leveled on Bruce aka Look-man. As he waited to get into the fray, he was greeted with great applause which got to him so much that he waved back to the fans acknowledging their acknowledgement. (What the hell? Kwani was it his testimonial? No one does that? The thing with such showmanship is that it can be really embarrassing if, as was in his case, if you don’t back it up with performance.) He then entered in classic Barezi fashion but couldn’t live up to the hype. He is definitely good in spreading the ball wide but one of his major letdowns is that he “thinks” too much when he’s in possession, which was evident in a pass that could have put Messi through on goal but was intercepted because he was a second late in delivering it. He had a chance to make a difference with a free kick but could only see it hit the wall.

I think these reasons counted. All in all those in close contact with the club definitely know better. I only speak as a mere spectator. I now that Tola will rise for the dust. I know that Jeri will learn a lot from this game but they have definitely made it worse for themselves. They would have won the league by now but a series of losses and draw denied them this chance. They now trail leaders Kayole Asubuhi by two points and T.U.K by a point. All they can hope for is that the two drop points.

Update

It was sad to hear that Jeri lost their player, Mackie later on that Saturday. My condolences to his family and to the entire Jericho All Stars fraternity. There will be a match on Sunday 11th to raise funds to grant him a decent send-off. Kindly plan to attend.

Just when you thought there was something to smile about in Kenyan football, allegations of a sex scandal surface in the starlets’ camp. According to Mike’s investigations, and this is Mike Okinyi we are talking about, the Owaah of sports, some of the players have sexual relations with some coaches. While npot illegal in any way, it just goes against the unspoken rules of sports just as Arnold put it. It just brings about unnecessary conflict as interest; a coach would favour their partner even she isn’t performing. Lawrence Webo, the goal-keeping coach has been named in the scandal and has since been sidelined but FKF states that he is still part of the technical team. We’ll just have to wait for the findings of the investigations. Who knows, #thisiskenya, more relations may just be unearthed. @AlexNgare suggested that we the whole technical team should be made up of women. While it is a good idea, it isn’t practical as not many are qualified.

U-17 team

Nick Mwendwa’s aspiration as FKF chairman was to build Kenyan football from the ground-up; in terms of both youth and grass-root football. It is great to see that for once everything, with regards to the trials, selection and even age verification, has been done as should be ahead of their trip to for the COSAFA tournament. They are in group B together with Zambia, Malawi and Madagascar. People will just want to see their performance under newly appointed technical director Andreas Spier. Wins and all hail FKF. Losses and Kenyans will criticize all their efforts of getting to the 2022 world cup.

image from sportpesnews.com

AFC Leopards

Finally, Diallo has pulled a Situmbeko on AFC Leopards. The Interim Secretary General Asava Kadima did everything but explain the logic of “their” player playing for Rayon after his contract was over yet he had preliminary registration with FKF. If clubs can’t get away with such crimes against football, then players shouldn’t. It’s good to know that they will take action. Hope the new management team, to be elected on Sunday, will take up the case. Kadima clearly stated that the new team should change the new constitution and manage the club as a business and not a social gathering.

Soccer Africa had their first episode of the new season aired yester night. You can watch the repeat later on in the day. That’s all for today, have a great Friday.

Portugal won only one match inside 90 minutes in their journey to the final, their 2-0 semi-final win over Wales. They got into the last 16 as one of the best losers. Won against Croatia in extra time and had to go to penalties to win against Poland. Eder ,the match-winner, had only scored 3 goals in his last 28 caps. Such is the cruelty of football or its beauty depending on the how you look at your glass.

Purists vs Pragmatists
So I kinda get the purists point of view when they say they would have loved France t win the tournament. But I would also disagree because they, the purists would have been more excited if Germany were in the final and eventual winners of the tournament. In the final, Portugal did exactly what France did in their semi against Germany; they defended well and as a unit even with Umtiti earning only his second cap at the heart of defense. To me, this is a pragmatic approach. To realize that your opponent is “stronger” and accept that you might not necessarily beat them but you will win the match. It is more practical. So away with purity and let’s just win matches. That’s the ultimate goal of playing football.

Shockingly, they also did not go down without a fight. They toiled to the last sweat,probing when they had the chance to. Despite they defensive discipline they have Griezmann (who missed chances he normally would have slotted in calmly), the post, which saw off Gignac’s effort and Rui Patricio, who kept them in the games after a series of fine saves.

The players appreciated the pep talk given to them by their leader CR7 at halftime and well beyond it. He practically acted as an assistant coach. He most definitely would have loved to contribute more but his injury in the first 5 minutes into the game denied him a chance to make a direct impact in the game.

As Deschamps admitted later on, France will have themselves to blame. They were facing a side that didn’t have their mercurial captian for 80+ minutes. They had chances they couldn’t take and home support that easily acted as the 12th man. In Griezmann, Payet, Koscieny, Giroud and co. , were a squad which played well both individually and as a team. Where individual frailties were exposed, team-ethic prevailed. Heck they even had a player valued at 100 million pounds on the pitch. Yet they failed when it mattered most.

Congrats to Portugal for the win. We now await the crowning of Roro, as we call him here in Kenya, as this year’s Ballon D’ Or winner.

]]>https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/portugal-win-it-read-cr7-wins-the-ballon-dor/feed/0dimbablogindexKenya vs. Congo Preview + Stats vs. Bissauhttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/kenya-vs-congo-preview-stats-vs-bissau/
https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/kenya-vs-congo-preview-stats-vs-bissau/#respondSun, 05 Jun 2016 08:07:34 +0000http://dimbablog.wordpress.com/?p=72Continue reading "Kenya vs. Congo Preview + Stats vs. Bissau"]]>We are technically out of Afcon. It will take more than a miracle, and strange things happen in football, to see us go through. We face a tough opponent in Congo. How we managed to get a draw away from home still baffles me as much as how we lost to Guinea Bissau over two legs.

Possible line-up

I expect to see Bonny in goal. Origi’s performance for the national team has been questioned time and again. We can’t really compare the two objectively since none of us can claim to be watching the Norwegian league. So we inevitably compare Bonny’s performance for Gor Mahia to Origi’s performance in the National Team. It’s not a fair comparison but it’s all we have for now and Bonny’s winning even though the latter isn’t with the team currently.

Only Wanyama and Akumu are assured of a place in the starting eleven. The rest of the positions are basically dependent on the manager’s game plan. We saw Mieno joining them in the middle last week, a trivote’. I may like to see Eric Johana in the number ten role but he has been playing on the flanks in a few games. But we have three pacey players there too in Paul Were, Ayumb Timbe and Miheso. People have criticized Jesse Were’s performances for the national team saying that he doesn’t score as much as he does for club level. Will he be preferred over Olunga? Don’t think so but I see the possibility of Okumbi playing both of the upfront where both

In defense, I would prefer playing with Mandela and Atudo in the middle with Calabar and Aboud Omar flanking them. Though Eric Ouma has shown that he isn’t shaken by the big stage, he is still a rookie and I think we should go for the more experienced Aboud. But again it will depend on how the manager wants to play. Bringing on Eric means that we have two attackers on the left flank. He’s so good going forward.

So my final line-up will be with a four-four two formation: Bonny, David Owino, Mandela, Atudo, Aboud Omar, Timbe, Wanyama, Akumu, Olunga, Jesse Were.

Stats from our previous games

Let’s take a look at how we played against Guinea Bissau over the two legs.

Kenya vs Guinea Bissau (Away)

1st half 2nd Half

Crosses (3) 9 33%3) 9 33%

Long Pass (13) 32 41% (6) 14 43%

Short Pass (108) 112 96% (93) 98 95%

Passes in the Final 3rd (17) 22 77% (20) 27 74%

Long Ball attacks (9) 26 35% (6) 14 43%

Shots On-3 On- 2

Off-none Off – 1

Through Ball (1) 2 in the whole game.

The bracketed figures show the successful attempts of the stat while those outside it shows the total number of attempts. For example, In the first half 17 of 22 passes in the final third were successful.The percentages simply show the success rate of the give stat.

Kenya vs. Guinea Bissau (Home)

1st Half

Long Pass (8) 26 31%

Short Pass (182) 188 97%

Passes in the Final 3rd (34) 41 83%

Shots On – 1

Off – 2

Through balls – 2

Build-up Long- 16

Short – 13

Crosses – (3) 9

The build up stats shows the number of times we played long balls vs. short ones in our build up. ie. when we played the ball long vs. when we passed our way from the back, through the midfield and into the final third. And thus the passes in the final third stats, which, well, show how efficient we were in the final third.

Lack of technical ability to play long balls

From the above we can see that the number of long passes significantly increased. But key to note is that even the success rate reduced. In the away game, although the success rate of the long balls increased in the second half, it is important to note that we attempted fewer passes 14 against 32 in the first half. Overall, we simply see that the number of successful long balls played was low which definitely points out to the fact that we don’t have the technical ability to play long balls. For all the talk from your football analysts and renowned journalists of how we have technical players, the data simply doesn’t support it. So Kenyan players have to work on this.

What is more worrying is that in the three matches (including our qualifier against Zambia at home), Origi only played on successful long ball in both free and goal kicks.

A Long ball Nation

We have often been criticized that we are a nation that builds up play by playing long balls to our forwards as opposed to playing it through the three thirds of the pitch. While we can’t conclusively say this from one half of one game, we can at least see that the stats agree with this notion. I have no problems with building up play by playing long balls, Egypt does this so well but unlike us, their players have the technical ability to play the ball long.

Passes in the final third

What encourages me is that despite the lower success rate in the passes played in the final third in the second half of the away game 74% against 77%, we not only attempted more passes 27 vs. 22, but more were successful 20.

Even more encouraging is that in the home game we increased our attempted passes to 41. It’s the reason we enjoyed watching that game. Heck, when was the last time we saw Kenya play that well?

Red Flags

The obvious one is that we need to improve in passing our long balls. Secondly, how pathetic our crosses are. If we only found our target men with our crosses, we would be posing a serious threat to the opposition. Third, make use of our creative players, the Eric Johanas and kina Tosh. That we had only 2 through balls with such creative players is really worrying. Finally, take more shots on goal.

We should approach it as a means to improving our FIFA rankings seeing that we have dropped 13 places after the last two games we played. Seeing that we are 4th with only a point, we are logically out of the tournament unless we beat both Congo and Zambia (away). It is a huge task and we face a very good side today as seen Ottamax told us.

All the best to #teamkenya

]]>https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/kenya-vs-congo-preview-stats-vs-bissau/feed/0dimbablog11 Time Champs and Awkward Penaltieshttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/11-time-champs-and-awkward-penalties/
https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/11-time-champs-and-awkward-penalties/#respondSun, 29 May 2016 18:23:13 +0000http://dimbablog.wordpress.com/?p=69Continue reading "11 Time Champs and Awkward Penalties"]]>Real are the new Champions League holders. It wasn’t a spectacular match largely due to the fact that Madrid decided to sit back after Ramos’ goal. (Ronaldo looked like he had had a threesome before the game. Their forward three didn’t play well both individually and collectively.) Up until then, it promised to be an exciting match with Madrid playing with a lot of energy as experienced with their well-coordinated pressing. They then seemed to want to win it with that solitary goal. Athletico then pushed and pushed and after Griezmann missed a penalty they equalized through a wonderful move initiated by Gabi and slotted in beautifully by Carrasco. And celebrate he did in some style. I thought to myself that we had a game in our hands but both teams put their feet off the gas.

Zizou then made an awkward substitution bringing on Isco for Kroos. I thought it was a big blunder; leaving only Modric as the only man with a little bit of experience, for that stage, in the midfield. Benzema was then taken off for Vasquez. Looking at the number of chances they created, Madrid looked more likely to win it.

Awkward Penalties

In the end the tie was to be decided by penalties. They were awkward as Madrid penalty shots were aimed to the right while Athletico’s to the left. All went in but Juanfran’s. It was sad for Athletico who have now lost three finals. I thought Oblak could have at least tried to dive.

Zizou becomes the 7th manger to win it as player and coach, Ronaldo wins his third champions league and Madrid are now 11 time winners. What a great achievement.

]]>https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/11-time-champs-and-awkward-penalties/feed/0dimbablogKOGALO OUTSHINE MATHAREhttps://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/kogalo-outshine-mathare/
https://dimbablog.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/kogalo-outshine-mathare/#respondMon, 23 May 2016 16:28:45 +0000http://dimbablog.wordpress.com/?p=62Continue reading "KOGALO OUTSHINE MATHARE"]]>Kogalo had never failed to score in this fixture since 2012. Mathare on the other hand last beat the green army in 2009. Both seem to love having the ball. Some even called it Dutch mastery versus Brazilian flair, sighting the two coaches “backgrounds”. Last season, they almost ended our unbeaten run.

The first half was plain. We had two attempts on goal while they had only one. Mathare’s tactic was basically to sit back, soak in the pressure and hit us on the counter. Such an antithesis to Kimanzi’s and even Mathare’s philosophy. Remember when he, a few weeks ago, bashed Western Stima for “Not coming to play football”? It worked.

Our best chance in the half was wasted by the later would be goal scorer, Walusimbi, when he missed a chance due to a poor first touch after a beautifully lofted pass from Nzigiyimana. (That move, resulting from Mathare’s corner, reminded me of taking corners in FIFA. It’s almost like creating a chance for your opponent. It’s even worse if you’re playing against Madrid.) We seemed to be playing through the flanks, with Walusimbi, Karim and Wafula fashioning 4 in the first 45. With Wise at center back, it was always going to be a problem for our target man, Jausenge. Wafula had moments when he could have created something special but was let down by his first touch. I think he is a wonderful dribbler by Kenyan (or Ugandan) standards but really has to work on getting the end product.

Mathare couldn’t pass the ball, something they have been doing well in every game bar this. Nzigiyimana effectively kept Eric Johana, their danger man, out of the game. Their only threat came with Abich’s free kick. They kept us at arms-length and were happy to do so if it could help them get something from the game.

Bonnie held our hearts in his hands by dribbling past our opponents. When it works, everyone’s happy with his composure under pressure. Should it fail, and it will one day, it eventually does, it stops being funny to the fans, his teammates and in particular the coach.

In the second half, Gor came out with more intensity. Mathare sat even deeper with Johana looking to play through balls which were easily dealt with by Shakava. It seemed to be heading for a draw. And Mathare would have been happy with that. We looked more threatening than Mathare who continued to sit back. Walusimbi took a good free kick, which didn’t really trouble Odhiambo in goal.

Ze Maria brought on Kahata for Wafula who switched wings with Walusimbi. It worked a few minutes later with Walusimbi curling the ball into the far post past an overstretched Peter Odhiambo. It was a great goal that should probably have been defended better as Kimanzi later stated. It meant that Mathare had to come out and try and get an equalizer. Meaning they ran the risk of conceding another. But with twenty minutes to play, they had to put in a shift. It ended up costing them after Kahata found Eric Ouma aka Marcelo with the finest of passes who then brought in a good cross for Tuyisenge to head in a second. He really was never going to miss from six yards. The game was basically over at that point.

Nothing much happened thereafter with only one threat on goal by Mathare, Johana’s free kick direct to the keeper.

A hard fought victory. Sends us up the log to position 2. Who would have thought of such resurgence after poor performance in the first few games? Marcelo really developing well both defensively and offensively, showing that he should earn a call up to the national team. Walusimbi with a goal that will most definitely be contender for play of the week on playback this evening, if not winning it.

The guys at multichoice (read dstv) were so kind as to bring us the game. By us, I refer to the guys subscribed to dstv access, which is the most basic form of tv you can get from them as the word suggests, dstv ACCESS. To them I say I big thank you. Please bring us the Champions League final, DFB Pokal, FA Cup final this evening, heck and even the Euro final with a few games thrown in.

The first half of the game was quite interesting for Liverpool fans as they did almost everything right. Nathaniel Clyne bossing the right wing. Milner and Emre doing the same in midfield. Sevilla on the other hand were practically out of the game with probably on one chance (Gameiro’s overhead kick). Krychowiak, Banega and Nzonzi trying too hard to make life hard for themselves by moving the ball to high pressure zones instead of playing a simple pass. They hence resorted to playing long balls to Nzonzi. So unlike them and Spanish teams, I think. Part of this was due to the effective pressing by Liverpool. One couldn’t really blame Gameiro when he seldom received any service from the three in midfield.

D.Sturridge scored a fine goal with his out boot and we all thought Liverpool were winning this. They had a few chances, which they did not take and would as happens often, came to haunt them. There were also plenty of penalty appeals by the Mugsmashers and it’s sad that none went their way. All in all, they outwitted and outplayed Sevilla.

Before we could even settle down to watch the second half, Gameiro slotted one for the recent two time holders after some fine work by Mariano or Moreno’s blunder depending on you’re the state of the glass. Game on. What followed was the opposite of what we saw in the first half. Nzonzi dropped deeper. His partnership with Krychowiak coupled with Banega’s Ozilesque passing was quite something. They went back to the basics; moved the ball with more conviction and determination as was seen in the second goal.

On the flip side, Liverpool seemed clueless. Coutinho looked off the pace. Their opponents played their hearts off. At 2-1 one would have thought Istanbul. But it was far from happening since they hardly played the ball. Almost everything seemed to go wrong with them. Not long and they conceded a third which to be honest, I thought was an offside until watching the replay. I think this and the fact that they were playing poorly deflated their belief in plotting another historic comeback as we had seen against Dortmund.

No substitution would help them. Not even the entry of the Welsh Xavi, remember how he scored an equalizer when we were playing against them at Anfield? Benteke and Origi didn’t make the impact they were brought on to. D.Sturridge played behind them but that too didn’t work.

In the end, they cried the defeat off, I think, not really because of the defeat on the night but of the repercussions it came with; failure to play in the Champions League next season.

Steven Nzonzi now has a Europa League medal. How beautiful can life get.